Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier Crowned EPT Grand Final High Roller Champion

French pro Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier has just taken down the EPT Grand Final High Roller, after overcoming a field of 58 players over three days to lift the title, and collect the €525,000 ($761,300) first place-prize.
Following his incredible win in Madrid, Grospellier said: “It feels really wonderful to win, as it’s over two years since my last major win at the PCA. This is the most prestigious of the EPT High Roller events as it’s the Grand Final.”
The 30 year-old former pro gamer and hardcore progamer has only been playing poker seriously since 2006 but already has 1 WPT and now 3 EPT titles to his name. He has also managed to accumulate $7,366,068 in live winnings and $1,079,307 online during that time.
In his latest victory at the €25,000 buy-in event, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier had to contend with a top class field of pros on his way to the final table, which included Jonathan Duhamel, Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Johnny Lodden, Viktor Blom, Tom Dwan and Pierre Neuville.
The Team PokerStars Pro then found himself at a tough final table of eight which included such notable names as Vanessa Rousso, Galen Hall, Peter Jetten and Juha Helppi.
First to exit the arena was a short-stacked Peter Jetten in 8th (€45,000), followed by Galen Hall in 7th (€57,500) and Alex Repik in 6th (€72,000).
Vanessa Rousso then picked-up €100,000 in 5th after shoving over the top of Spindler with A-6 and being called by his pocket eights.
Spindler then eliminated , David Sands in 4th (€135,000) before “ElkY” with pocket queens sent Juha Helppi to the rail in 3rd (€185,000), thus heralding in the heads-up phase of the competition.
Despite starting as a 3 to 1 underdog, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier soon overcame his chip disadvantage before the final hand was played.
Elky was dealt 9h-4h to his opponent’s Kc-9d, and with the board falling 9c-4d-2c-Jc-9s all the chips went to the centre of the table with ElkY’s full-house subsequently winning the pot and the tournament.
Germany’s Benny Spindler then collected €316,000 for his runner-up finish, while Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier was crowned the 2011 EPT Grand Final High Roller Champion.